Free The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu Page A

number of history’s greatest figures had a Quasing helping them along the way.  
    “Really? Like who?”
    Socrates, Alexander, Napoleon, Washington, Churchill, Roosevelt, Einstein, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs – just to name a few. You will find that more often than not, almost every great figure had our help.  
    “You guys were in Jobs?”
    Let us just say that Steve was not as brilliant as everyone made him out to be.  
    “And you’re going to make me great as well?”
    You will make yourself as great as you want you to be.  
    A stiff breeze snapped Roen out of their conversation and he shivered. Looking up, he saw a mass of clouds rolling in from the east. He must have been sitting here for a while now. Roen stood up, stretched his legs, and strolled down the walkway. This was his first time at the park, even though he worked just across the street.
    His mind raced as he tried to digest everything he just heard. Any one of these people nearby could have an alien in them. Roen looked around as couples walked by hand-in-hand with small children running around. They could have been there all along and he wouldn’t know. It could be anyone! He walked by the giant silver kidney bean sculpture and watched curiously as his body shape contorted against the reflective metal. His face appeared as alien as he felt right now.
    “This is nuts,” he muttered. “I’m just going crazy. It’s the only rational explanation.”
    I thought we were making headway. What is the problem now?  
    “The problem is...” Roen said aloud and stopped when an elderly couple walked past and looked his way.
    Remember, inside voice.  
    He turned away from them and hunched over. “The problem is that I don’t believe you. The story you’re telling me is ridiculous. Aliens, millions of years old, in my brain... that’s just crazy. I must be just stressed out from work, or maybe that pizza gave me food poisoning, or hell, maybe it’s residual guilt from my last breakup eight years ago. Whatever my excuse is, it’s more rational than having some alien living inside me. Ockham’s Razor, man, Ockham’s Razor.”
    Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate.  
    “Uh... what?”
    Ockham’s Razor. That is what it means. William of Ockham was one of our people. We used its interpretation to hide our existence when hosts went insane and gave us away.  
    Roen threw his hands up. “What the hell! Is everyone in on this but me? Am I like the last person in the world not to have my own personal alien?”
    Like I said, we tend to occupy positions of influence.  
    “So what do I get out of this? Can I get superpowers? Will I fly? Could I climb walls? Do I need a secret identity like Clark Kent or Peter Parker?”
    Well, as long as I am alive, your memories will be with me. In a way, you become almost immortal. And as with my previous hosts, you have all their memories and skills at your disposal.  
    “Is that it?”
    There was another long silence before Tao finally spoke . Are you serious? You mean having an ancient all-wise being at your disposal is not enough? A thousand lifetimes of knowledge and wisdom is not sufficient to turn you into some semblance of a capable human being? Have you not ever heard that knowledge is power? You have in you one of the wisest minds on this planet and that is not enough for you?  
    “Well, since you put it that way,” Roen grumbled. “You didn’t have to be mean about it. It would be nice though if I got some sort of power.”
    Well, I apologize, but I will not be able to accommodate you.  
    “You don’t have to be sarcastic.”
    I just think you should be more appreciative.  
    “You know, for an extraterrestrial, you act awfully human-like.”
    We were not always this way. When we first arrived, our personalities were very alien compared to how we are now. Our relationship with humans is symbiotic. You influence us just as much as we influence you. Over the course of time, we became more human